Grievances & Complaints

If an employee has a complaint at work, they have a legal right to raise a grievance and you have a duty to consider it properly. If the employee’s legal rights might have been infringed, this is an opportunity to put matters right.

Grievances and complaints

It is an important part of the employment relationship that problems are addressed as effectively as possible. A grievance might be a complaint about:

pay or working arrangements

disagreements with co-workers

some form of discrimination

bullying and harassment

health and safety

stress at work

or it may be about something else which is causing an employee concern.

Grievance procedures

If the complaint cannot be resolved informally, you should invite the employee to a meeting to discuss the grievance and they must be given the right to be accompanied by a trade union official or representative or work colleague. The person dealing with the grievance should investigate the complaint carefully. If it is a complex compliant then it may be desirable for someone to investigate it, taking statements from the complainant and from other members of staff and for another manager to deal with the hearing. It is important that you provide carefully prepared reasons for your decision. If the employee is not satisfied with the outcome there should be a right to escalate the complaint to more senior management within the company.

Our solicitors can advise your company on all apects of grievance and whistleblowing procedure.